It
was a common sight to see a “Spaghetti Bowl” of cables behind the racks
of business servers with coax, fiber, telephony, AC and DC power, KVM
and a variety of other wires all plugged into corresponding ports on
the rack-mounted units. I recall once, a few years ago, seeing a
slew of cables coiled on the floor about two feet thick, saying to my
friend who ran the law firm’s data center, “Mike, why don’t you label
and organize this mess?” His reply was, “Gary, it's job security
– nobody else could ever figure this out!”

These
days the Radio Frequency (RF) spectrum is becoming ever more feature
rich, radio chips are getting cheaper, and clever protocols are
operating seamlessly together. Frankly, nowadays, there isn’t
much bandwidth available in the unlicensed bands. We all have
heard of the 900 Megahertz and 2.4 Gigahertz frequencies used by many
gadgets including garage door openers, baby monitors, security camera
(non-IP) and even remote controls. Also absolutely everyone knows
about Wi-Fi, as we see it everywhere in our coffee houses, restaurants,
hotels and personal hot spots. But little do people realize the
IEEE 802.11 standard known as Wi-Fi has been an ongoing series of
enhancements for speed and security. Engaging a beacon to allow
for switching to cellular phones when in range, data is transported
almost magically to end points. Likewise, another IEEE standard
known as 802.15.4 b/g/n has created a niche for connectivity used by a
group called the ZigBee Alliance and a new group called the Wi-SUN
Alliance. ZigBee is commonly used for a wide variety of gadgets
for the home, as Wi-SUN (the “SUN” stands for Smart Utility Network)
concentrates their applications on smart metering and utility demand
response. These alliances use a technique called MAC and PHY
meaning there is a “Machine Code” and a “Physical” connection governing
the communication along with a configuration called mesh
networking. Wi-Fi uses an Internet Protocol (IP) address which is
more sophisticated by needing a microcomputer to handle the protocol
instead of a simpler, lower cost microprocessor for 802.15.4.

Next
we also see it in our cellular phones, 4G LTE and soon 5G, working
swiftly in the background of our test messages and Internet
browsing. A typical smart phone has six radios inside: GSM
& CDMA for voice, GPS for navigation, Wi-Fi for Internet locally,
Bluetooth for connecting devices, and NFC – Near Field Communication
for using it as a payment or data exchange tool.

Wireless isn’t only used in data communications. Additionally,
the newest phones and automobiles are using wireless power, whereas you
simply need to be in range of a charging base station to charge up your
phone. In this niche, there are two competing standards.
Just like the VCR days with Beta vs. VHS. The Wireless Power Consortium
(WPC) is using their brand “Qi” (pronounced “Chee”) while the Power
Matters Alliance (PMA) uses a different standard. As one can
guess, Eveready is behind one camp while Duracell is the other.
Just over the past few months there has been a convergence of the two
charging techniques to seamlessly overlap functionality, called
reactive and inductive, so as not to confuse the public thus assuring
consumer satisfaction. Already Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi,
Chrysler, Tesla, GM and other automobile manufacturers have placed over
16 million Qi based wireless charging systems in 2014 and 2015 model
cars’ center consoles. You might have one and not even know it!

All
of these invisible waves passing together cause Electro-Magnetic
Interference with synergistic problems or issues that go beyond the
design parameters. For the unlicensed bandwidths, the FCC takes
the attitude in their Part 15 compliance code that can be paraphrased
“If it doesn’t work, move it to another location and try it.”
Meaning you’re on your own.

This
is rather “High level” information and can be drilled down to what is
commonly done in Isolation Test Chambers of radio test labs.
There, the labs have energy absorbing walls to prevent reflection in a
Faraday Chamber not allowing any RF in or out along with specialized
antennas to allow for scientific testing of radio transmitters and
receivers. By keeping all variable RF under control, repeatable
results for compliance and interoperability testing is achieved.
These symbols are often seen on products by the FCC, UL (Safety), TUV,
CE (Europe), CSA (Canada), CCC (China) and many others, called
International Approvals (IAs). The best example of these IA’s is
to look at the bottom of your mouse – they usually have half a dozen of
these symbols.

So
the next time you press your garage door opener, or TXT a SMS, you can
figuratively thank Guglielmo Marconi and Nikola Tesla for their
groundbreaking work done long before our airwaves encapsulated our
lives with this magical connectivity.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gary
Sorkin has been involved in the standards development for
specifications related to the smart grid and Internet of Things,
working with global test labs and industry alliances. During his
career he has developed many fundamental techniques for data
communication stemming back to the dial-up modem days. He
currently is CEO of Pacific Communication Group, industry experts which
consult with clients in the computer industry globally. He lives
in Sparks, Nevada along with his wife Nicole and their daughter,
enjoying the wonderful Lake Tahoe area.